It’s true that as a hiring manager, it is easy to pick out the mistakes that the candidates you are interviewing make. After all, you are interviewing for fit, skills and general personality in the hiring process. You want to make sure you are hiring the right person and are on the look out for tell-tale signs that show you this candidate is not the right fit. However, as a hiring manager there are many mistakes that you can make as well. A while back we covered a couple of the reasons why job seekers dislike employers in the job search. In the interest of constantly improving and making our processes better though, let’s expand upon that and look at some of the hiring mistakes employers often make.

Evaluate Based on Personality
True, you need to be interviewing job seekers to see if they fit in with your company culture, and part of that involves personality. However, as a hiring manager if you are evaluating job seekers solely on their personality you are missing out on a great pool of talent. As About.com states, it’s easy for employers to want to hire job seekers that are mostly like them. They figure they’ll get along better with these candidates and work will be much smoother. Perhaps this is true, but in order for a company to thrive there needs to be diversity in opinions, thoughts and execution. A more diverse company will likely succeed over a company that employs workers that all think alike. As a hiring manager, you need to look at the full package and that means looking beyond just personality.

You Only Ask Questions
Yes, the bulk of the interview will be asking questions, evaluating the answers and conversing, but there should be more to your hiring process. As we discussed in the 4 ways to hire the best talent like Steve Jobs, taking your candidates on a walk to learn more about their personality can really help determine the best fit. Depending on the job, you may even want to have the candidates actually put their skills to work as part of your hiring process. For instance, I once interviewed for a PR writing position and the employer had me write up a press release onsite in 30 minutes. There’s no better way for employers to see that you have the skills to get the job done.

That is why video interviews are such a great tool to use in the hiring process. You can ask the general interview questions in a one-way interview and weed out candidates from the get-go. Then when you have these job seekers actually come into the office for an in-person interview, you can spend time on more important things.
Only Use an Applicant Tracking System
Resume tracking software can be really useful in the hiring process. It can find a bulk of job seekers that are on point with what you need by scanning resumes and cover letters for important keywords. However, if this is the only way you gather resumes to skim through you are probably missing out on prime talent. Use a resume tracking software in your hiring process, but sift through the resumes of job seekers on your own as well when you have the time. That way you can pick up on the talent you may be missing out on.

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Nicole is the Content Editor for Spark Hire and mainly writes for and edits the work for the Spark News blog. She graduated in 2010 with a BA in Journalism from DePaul University in Chicago, Illinois. She has a passion for writing, editing, and pretty much anything to do with content. In her free time she frequents the Chicago music scene and writes reviews on shows for her own personal blog. Connect with Nicole and Spark Hire on Facebook and Twitter